“Kashak, run!” he cried out. But Kashak couldn’t hear him like Lyra could. Charlie looked up at the friendly Scaler and pointed. “Take me over there! We’ve gotta stop it!”

He still wasn’t sure if the friendly Scaler could understand him.

If it did, it was ignoring him. It refused to move. Charlie sighed. He’d attack from here instead. He used his ability combination and sent a small, shoe sized pillar flying through the air to hit the Boss Scaler in the face. The attack wasn’t very strong, but it hit hard enough to make the creature cease its barreling run toward Kashak.

It turned and saw Charlie hanging from the friendly Scaler’s mouth with a still outstretched hand.

It roared, and then it barreled toward them instead.

Charlie swallowed. Oh, the boss Scaler seemed so much larger at this distance. Now he understood why his Scaler companion didn’t want to get close. “Okay, now we run!” he thought to it.

On this matter, they agreed.

The Scaler scampered over the side of the jungle gym rooftop and landed on the playground walkway. It pressed itself low, trying to take shelter in the walled in walkway. It sat Charlie down as well but kept a hold of his onesie with its mouth.

It was quiet all of a sudden. Charlie didn’t hear the creature’s heavy footsteps moving toward them anymore.

Bam!

He turned around and saw the Boss Scaler land on the triangular roof where they had just been standing.

The elevated triangle was now more of a pancake.

The creature leered down at them. It opened its massive jaw and roared again.

“Arca!” Spittle flew like mini projectiles, covering them in the creature’s putrid scent.

“You need a bath!” Charlie said.

The creature slowly descended, carefully choosing footholds as it moved toward them. It was very aware of the fact this play-place couldn’t fully support its weight. The friendly Scaler lifted its head to pull Charlie up in the air and then it scurried forward.

The creature was right behind them. Charlie felt the friendly Scaler’s powerful legs prepare to launch them back in the air. He shrieked. “No! Down the slide!” he called out, pointing ahead. The Scaler hesitated but followed his instruction.

So, it could understand him. At least somewhat.

The lumbering boss Scaler’s feet pounded into the jungle gym behind them.

It was close.

“Hurry!” Charlie called out.

They reached the slide just in time.

The boss Scaler’s powerful jaw clamped shut behind them.

The friendly Scaler lost its grip and scrambled, trying to regain its control. Charlie giggled and embraced their newfound momentum.

From fight to fun. At least for a moment.

Charlie giggled uncontrollably the whole way down. Maybe there would be time to do this with the others a few more times after they beat up all the lizards.

A jaw crashed through the right side of the slide. The friendly Scaler bumped Charlie with its head, and he slid to the left and past the teeth unharmed. Charlie spun and then the slide spit him out like a little dungeon core rolling out a chute. He rolled into the dirt. He turned and looked behind him. The Boss Scaler was still tearing its way through the inside of the slide.

So much for sliding with the other kids later.

He tilted his head. Where was his friend?

He squinted and crawled to the edge of the slide, lifting himself up to look inside. It curved at the end, so he couldn’t quite see from here. A warm, green liquid trickled down the playground slide. Charlie hurried to get out of the way, but some got on his hand. He shook it violently, trying to get it off of himself.

“Wait, is this blood?”

His eyes shot open. “Are you okay!” he cried out, projecting his thoughts toward the lizard companion.

Silence.

“Hey! I’m coming in, okay?” Charlie said. But no matter how hard he tried; he couldn’t get himself up. He turned around to check and see if some of the other children could help. But they weren’t doing so good. The Scalers had rounded them up and completely encircled them. The children waved their spears around to ward off the Scalers, but they were losing ground by the second.

“Hey!” Charlie cried out again, trying to get the attention of his Scaler ally.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Arh!”

Charlie looked up. “You’re okay?” he called out.

The friendly Scaler came scrambling down the slide, its eyes locked in on Charlie and it bit onto the cuff of his onesie as it slid past. As soon as its feet hit the ground, it kept running.

Charlie turned back, hanging by his arm, and saw a sizeable chunk of the friendly Scaler’s tail was missing. It left behind a thick trail of viscous, green blood as it ran.

Behind them, the slide crunched and collapsed. The Boss Scaler ripped its head free and roared. Its hateful eyes locked on them and it tore free of the rubble and lumbered after them again. But it was far too slow to catch up with them at this speed. They should be able to get away and regroup with the others if—

The Boss Scaler stopped running, its legs flexed and the ground underneath it cracked.

It jumped.

Charlie eye’s shot open as the creature sailed through the air, over and past them. It landed in front of them, creating such a powerful impact that several Scalers fell from the walls and ceilings and hit the ground with a splat.

The friendly Scaler tried to scramble away but was too slow.

The Boss Scaler turned and brought its powerful tail around, swinging it towards them. The two of them, Charlie, and Scaler alike, were sent flying. His companion Scaler didn’t move. It was unconscious on the ground. Charlie landed near the seesaw next to it.

“Charlie!” he heard Lyra’s voice cry out. He couldn’t see her. Were they okay? Did she need his help?

He could hear the Boss Scaler making its move toward him. He quickly crawled up to the nearby side of the seesaw. The low side. He stretched his hand out and grabbed the stumpy tail of his unconscious lizard companion. The Boss Scaler was close now. Any moment it would reach them.

Luckily, he had a vague memory of how this contraption worked.

“Transfer! Dungeon Manipulation!”

The Pillar wasn’t aimed toward the charging Boss Scaler.

It fell from a portal and landed on the other end of the seesaw. Charlie and the friendly Scaler shot up into the sky. He summoned another pillar, activating his abilities again. This one rammed into Charlie midair and sent him flying towards the other children.

“Aga!” he cried out as he went flying through the air. This time, he was the one pulling the Scaler through the air and not the other way around. They landed with a thud in front of Kashak and bounced several times.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Lyra gasped and hurried to check on him. “Charlie! Are you okay?”

Charlie’s head spun. “I think so?” He turned, still dizzy, and gave his lizard friend a pat to make sure it was alright too. It was still unconscious, but breathing. They’d gotten away from the Boss Scaler, but that wouldn’t be true for long.

And now he was surrounded, like all the other children.

One of the hunters looked at Kashak. “What do we do?” he asked.

Kashak turned to look at him but didn’t speak. He turned back to look at the hopeless situation. His grip tightened around the shaft of his spear. He exchanged a look with Lyra.

She shook her head. She didn’t know either.

The Boss Scaler finally caught up to them and the Scaler circle parted to let it through. Kashak held his spear up, but the Boss Scaler ignored him.

“Arca!” it roared. The other Scalers hurried forward toward the children, but they didn’t seem to be attacking.

Charlie looked around. “What are they doing?” he asked. The children backed away, the circle of hunters growing tighter and tighter by the second. If they kept this up, they wouldn’t have any room to fight.

The Boss Scaler stared right at Kashak and roared again.

Kashak leaned forward. He turned back to Lyra. “I think it wants to fight me…”

Lyra shook her head. “Are you crazy? It’s a beast. It can’t think, it doesn’t know the difference between—” She paused, staring down at the friendly Scaler. She knew better. That Scaler had protected Kashak and helped Charlie. They were smarter than she was giving them credit for. “You can’t fight that thing. It's way too strong,” she said, shifting her line of thinking.

“Do you think we can take it?” Charlie asked.

Kashak’s brow raised. “We?” he asked.

Charlie shook his head. “I can fight! I can hold on to you and help with my powers! We can beat it together.” He’d seen how strong Kashak was. With Kashak’s strength and Charlie’s power, they could beat up this ugly lizard!

Kashak seemed unsure. But Lyra spoke up. “Charlie is a lot stronger than you realize. You saw what he did earlier. This fight would be over by now if the big one hadn’t shown up. The other Scalers seem to obey it. So, for now, let’s play along. If I get an opening, I’ll put all of my power into a shot strong enough to take the creature out. You just keep it distracted and find me an opening,” she said.

This seemed to convince him. “Fine,” Kashak said. He squatted in front of them. Charlie tilted his head as Lyra lifted him and sat him on Kashak’s shoulders. This was a new position for him. She positioned Charlie so either of his little baby legs sat on one of Kashak’s shoulders. He gripped onto Kashak’s long, brown mane of hair and his ability activated.

He giggled where stray strands of hair tickled his face.

The Boss Scaler, now satisfied, roared again. The other Scalers pushed the children back, clearing a large area for the fight to go on. To Charlie’s relief, Lyra ordered a few of the hunters to pick up the injured friendly Scaler and drag it with them as well. He wouldn’t need to worry about any of his friends.

He could just focus on helping Kashak win this fight.

It didn’t take long to get started. The Boss Scaler charged.

Kashak started to roll out of the way, but realized he couldn’t do that with Charlie on his back. He hesitated.

Charlie realized fighting alongside each other for the first time probably wasn’t the ideal situation while going up against a powerful foe like this. He threw up a wall.

But while it succeeded in stopping the creature’s charge, it also created a blind spot.

A shadow covered them, and they both looked up in unison as the large creature shot over their heads, its powerful tail whipped outward, and swung at Charlie. He held a hand up to cover his face, but Kashak leapt to the side in time to get them out of the impact zone.

The tail hit the wall, and it crumbled.

Charlie’s eyes shot open. If the lizard was strong enough to destroy a defensive wall just like that, he could definitely hurt Charlie, too.

That wasn’t good. Kashak held his spear out, ready for the next charge.

“Do it again!” Kashak cried out. Charlie tilted his head. Kashak repeated it. “Do it again!”

Charlie obliged him, throwing up a wall. He hoped Kashak knew what he was doing. As soon as the wall shot up, Kashak counted out loud. “One…two…” he shot around the wall, keeping both his body and spear low to the ground. He drove the spear through the air, jabbing it into the soft underside of the Boss Scaler just as it leapt upward to repeat the attack.

Kashak had taken advantage of the blind spot. The creature roared in pain.

At the same time, Kashak’s spear splintered into hundreds of small pieces. The black metal spearhead and a small part of the shaft remained embedded in the creature’s underside. The Scaler landed somewhere on the other side of the wall, and Charlie waved his hand. His dungeon wall dissipated.

“Good job,” Kashak said without looking back.

Charlie patted him on the head. “You too!”

Kashak grumbled. He broke off into a run, straight toward the beast. “Now we press the advantage!” he cried out.

Kashak ran so quickly that Charlie’s legs flailed around behind him. He held on tight to Kashak’s hair, wild strands of it slapping him in the face. “You don’t have a weapon!” Charlie called out.

“I don’t—” Kashak leapt off the ground and brought a fist back. “—need one!” He brought the fist down and slammed it into the side of the Boss Scaler’s face.

The creature crumpled.

“Hmph. Weak.” Kashak spat on the creature. The other children cheered. Charlie scrambled to get his feet back over Kashak’s shoulders. The tan boy reached around and gave Charlie a boost. He settled into the snug spot once again. “Good job,” Kashak said.

“You two!” Charlie giggled. He leaned forward and held up a baby fist to Kashak. Merlin had taught him about fist bumps. He’d been waiting for an opportunity to try one. Kashak blinked, surprised, but reached up to reciprocate the motion. Charlie pumped a baby fist in the air.

“Fist bump complete! Wait, Kashak…you can hear me now?” What was up with that? First Lyra and now Kashak. That was really strange.

Kashak seemed surprised by it, too. “I guess so…I didn’t even realize because we were in the middle of fighting.” Something caught his attention. It hit Charlie at the same time.

The other Scalers were still watching. Waiting.

But why? They’d already won.

The Boss Scaler spun faster than either of them thought possible.

Its long, powerful tail whipped around and hit Kashak’s core. It sent them tumbling. Charlie, for the first time since acquiring the Palmar Grasp ability, lost his grip.

He went flying too.

The other children gasped.

The impact sent them soaring at different angles. Charlie landed hard on his back, the breath knocked out of him.

“Dungeon Integrity at—”

Charlie blinked. He couldn’t even process the words.

This was bad. He could tell.

Charlie could feel a shaky, unstable feeling inside him. He’d taken a heavy blow back in Sirra as well. But this was different.

Something was off.

Something was wrong.

A blast of water shot overhead, missing the Boss Scaler by several feet. It penetrated the dungeon wall and splattered. He heard Lyra scream.

He couldn’t even lift his head to figure out what was going on.

He heard the Scaler approaching in the background. It wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

Just like them, it thought it had won already. Charlie grunted, steady bursts of pain rocketing through him.

He forced himself to sit up. He held a hand out to the Boss Scaler walking toward him.

His vision went black, and then he came to again.

He’d passed out for a moment.

The Scaler stood right over him now.

How much power could he use?

How much dungeon integrity did he have?

Too much, and Mousifer and Bleedy might die.

Too little, and the creature would consume him. The children would never escape.

“Please be safe, guys. Please,” Charlie begged as the creature reared its ugly head back and opened its jaw wide to swallow him.

“Transfer! Dungeon—”

A blur of movement struck the Boss Scaler. Charlie instinctively covered his face. He looked up and saw the friendly Scaler. Snarling as it ripped away at the throat of the much larger Scaler.

“Arhhhh!” it yelled, tightening its claws, and tearing with its teeth.

The Boss Scaler fought back, trying to push the smaller Scaler away to no avail.

Charlie grinned. The friendly Scaler ripped away and looked right at Charlie. “Arh!” it said.

“Arga!” Charlie said aloud, trying his best to imitate the word. He held up a hand.

“Transfer! Dungeon Manipulation!”

The friendly Scaler leapt away.

A spear made of rock shot forward from a portal in Charlie’s hand. It shot right through the already injured throat of the Boss Scaler and deep into its body.

The creature fell and did not move again.

The friendly Scaler crawled back up and sniffed at the dying Boss Scaler. It bit down on it again and shook its head from side to side. Satisfied, the friendly Scaler climbed atop it and screamed to the sky.

“Arhhhhh!”

“Arh! Arh! Arhhh! Arhh!” A chorus of Scaler screams filled the room. They hurried forward and surrounded the friendly Scaler, who stood atop the much larger lizard. Charlie looked around. Scalers were all around him, but they completely ignored him. Someone quickly slid their arms under his armpits and picked him up. He looked up to see Lyra.

“Charlie…” She smiled at him and pulled him in tight for a hug. He was surprised, but wrapped his own arms back around her as far as he could with tiny baby arms.

After the moment passed, he turned to look back at the Scalers. They still shrieked and screamed.

It confused him.

Lyra, however, understood.

“It seems they have a new leader,” she said, watching the friendly Scaler look around at all the others from atop the corpse of a dead Scaler king.